Chris Church

Chris Church was adopted at a very young age. His biological father was Eric James Brindley Nicolson, an RAF World War II fighter pilot who was the only Battle of Britain pilot to be awarded the VC (Victoria Cross). Nicolson was killed in an airplane accident in the Bay of Bengal in 1945 when Church was four-and-a-half years old.

Church was subsequently adopted and lived in Welwyn Garden City and it was on the local cycle track that the youngster first showed promise as a cyclist as a 16-year-old. Although he never had an outstanding career, Church won the 1960 National Grass Cycling Championship and finished second to Karl Barton in the 1964 National Sprint Championship. Also in 1964, Church went to both the World Championships and Tokyo Olympics, where he took part in the sprint and tandem, with Barton.

Church worked as a draughtsman and aeronautical engineer at the Hawker Sidley aircraft factory and was always interested in human-powered flight, and in 1963 he became one of the first people to achieve this. He emigrated to the United States in 1970 and later worked for such high-profile companies as the boneware China manufacturers Spode and the fashion giant Gucci, of whom he was vice-president. Church lived in Malibu, California at the time of his death in 2001. He was cremated in the US but his ashes were returned to England and scattered across the Welwyn cycle track where he rode as a youngster.